Stephan Livera(@stephanlivera):Just note though: 1. Pruned nodes can still work for many people (on an existing PC/laptop, so cheap), but with some cut down functionality 2. Yes the chain is growing over time, but the block size limit was set quite conservatively, and generally tech deflation will bring the cost down faster than the chain grows. 3. A big reason for the spike now is more due to AI spiking the costs for things like SSDs I'd say if you want an archival node with electrum server, the cost is probably more like $450 ish today. But it will come down over time in line with general multi decade trends. I actually made a bitcoin node cost dashboard to show some of this, see

2026.07.10 17:57

Just note though: 1. Pruned nodes can still work for many people (on an existing PC/laptop, so cheap), but with some cut down functionality 2. Yes the chain is growing over time, but the block size limit was set quite conservatively, and generally tech deflation will bring the cost down faster than the chain grows. 3. A big reason for the spike now is more due to AI spiking the costs for things like SSDs I'd say if you want an archival node with electrum server, the cost is probably more like $450 ish today. But it will come down over time in line with general multi decade trends. I actually made a bitcoin node cost dashboard to show some of this, see